Yongco death anniversary commemorated yesterday

Family, friends and work colleagues of slain lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana-Yongco commemorated her first death anniversary yesterday through a Holy Mass and an ecumenical service.

A year after her death, people close to the fallen lawyer expressed high hopes that she would be given justice.

Crusade Against Violence chairperson Thelma Chiong said that they believe Michel Favila, Sr., a member of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association where Ruben Ecleo, Jr. is revered supreme master, is only a fall guy.

Interviewed after the ecumenical service at the Benevola Memorial Garden in Consolacion town where Yongco was buried, Chiong said she is hopeful that what Yongco had started when she was still handling the case of the Bacolods against Ecleo would be handled well by the lawyers who took over.

"Maayo gyud pagdala ni Arbet sa kaso sa mga Bacolod. Hopeful mi nga unsa man ang gisugdan ni Arbet, tiwason sa mga abogado nga nipuli sa kaso (Arbet handled the case of the Bacolods very well. We are hopeful that what she had started would be finished by the lawyers that replaced her)," Chiong told reporters. She also said she believes Favila is just a "sacrificial lamb." However, she did not explain on this further. Other friends, relatives, fellow lawyers and colleagues of Yongco in several other cause-oriented groups also said they missed the slain lawyer, especially the help that she had extended to women who are victims of violence.

They were all praises for the good deeds that Yongco did and for touching the lives of many people. Lawyer Liza Corro, a colleague of Yongco in the Federacion International de Abogadas, who is also one of the lawyers that handles the case of the fallen lawyer, said they are wishing that what the latter left behind "would always be taken cared of."

Corro refused to give any statement with regards to the development of the case of Yongco, but assured that she and the other lawyers handling the case are doing their best so justice could be served. Yongco, a private prosecutor in the parricide case against Ecleo, was shot dead inside her office in Alcohol Street, barangay Zapatera last October 11, 2004.

One of the prime suspects in her killing is Favila, a self-confessed member of the PBMA. Favila, together with three other suspects, are still facing trial for murder charges. - Wenna A. Berondo